This invention relates to a hand held device for the roller application of liquid coating compositions such as paint which employs a hand pumping mechanism operable from a handle section in the device to allow efficient and controlled distribution of coating on a roller.
The roller application of coating compositions such as paints to surfaces has achieved widespread use along with other applicator techniques such as brushing and spraying. In general, the paint roller consists of a handle and a wool or mohair covered cylinder rotatably mounted on the handle. Paint is first applied to the roller by emersing the roller in a shallow tray containing the paint and rolling excess paint off on a flat, grated section of the roller tray. The paint is then applied to the surface to be covered by manually rolling the roller over the surface. When the roller no longer yields a sufficient supply of paint to the surface, the process is repeated.
Inherent in this procedure is the inconvenience and loss of time involved in loading the roller with paint from the tray at regular intervals during painting beside the added loss of time in periodically refilling the tray. To solve this problem, there have been developed a number of hand-held roller devices which carry a reservoir of paint on or near the device itself and which employ appropriate means to control flow and distribution of the paint on the roller.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,542 to W. W. Martin, for example a roller-type paint applicator is described comprising a roller, a paint distributor tube mounted over the roller having spaced holes through which paint is discharged onto the roller surface, and a reservoir bulb forming a hand grip which contains and supplies paint to the paint distributor tube via a hollow stem. As paint is needed on the roller, the painter squeezes the bulb, forcing paint to the distributor tube and outwardly through the holes onto the surface of the roller as the roller is rotated on the surface being painted.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,898,618 to W. A. Whitfield and J. Weber Jr., a hand-held cylindrical roller applicator for applying paint products is described comprising a cylindrical roller, a material distribution hood and chamber having a concave curved bottom which loosely engages and conforms to the curvature of the roller and having a plurality of spaced passageways for receiving and distributing paint on the roller; a handle, and a paint supply under pressure which communicates with the material distribution hood and whose flow is regulated by valve means in the handle.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,657 to E. T. Hobe, a paint applicator is provided comprising an elongated housing having a handle, an upper coating fluid reservoir and a lower roller chamber containing a pair of rollers, one being an applicator roller and the other a corrugated feed roller. A fluid trough in the roller chamber projects into the space between the rollers and has openings through which fluid can pass to the rollers. A spring loaded valve in the housing opens and closes a valve seat opening which communicates fluid from the fluid reservoir to the trough. The valve comprises a stem projecting outwardly from the housing, and a lever pivotably connected to the stem and pivotably mounted on the handle for opening the valve.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,246 to W. W. Grooms, a gravity fed painting device is described comprising a functionally-shaped reservoir provided with an aperture, a paint dispensing roller operably mounted on the reservoir near the aperture, wiper blades mounted on the reservoir and a handle for holding the device. Other fluid applicators and paint rollers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,427,115, 3,195,170, 3,076,995 and 2,928,113.
The present invention provides a novel hand-held device for rolling liquid coating compositions containing a hand-pumping mechanism activated in the handle portion thereof which allows the user to effectively control the amount of coating composition distributed to the roller. The device is particularly useful for paint applications but may also be used for applying any type of liquid coating compositions such as inks, liquid polymer compositions, stains, waxes, glues and the like. In contrast to the above mentioned patents, the present invention contains no reservoir bulbs; does not employ a plurality of spaced passageways to distribute paint on a roller or a pressurized source of coating composition; does not require feed rollers and does not employ a gravity feed to distribute the coating composition.